Memphis was playing its best basketball down the stretch, winning seven of their final eight games. Having charged back into the picture for a potential at-large bid, the Tigers dream of reaching the NCAA Tournament likely required two wins in the conference tournament. On Thursday afternoon, those dreams turned to a nightmare against Houston.
Leading up to this game, the Tigers made it clear that they wanted to face Houston. Houston made it clear that they were ready. Led by Aubrey Coleman’s 21 points, including a step-thru jumper in the lane with 5 seconds remaining, Houston upset the Tigers for the second time this season 66-65 in the quarterfinals Thursday.
University of Memphis vs. University of Houston
With the regular season now closed, the 2009-2010 Memphis Tigers look to the post-season. With hopes of making into the NCAA Tournament field of 64, the Tigers (23-8, 13-3 C-USA) have the opportunity to play their way in by winning the Conference USA Tournament or possibly by winning two games. The 2010 tournament is set to begin in Tulsa at the BOK Center on Wednesday, March 10th going through Saturday, March 13th.
Doneal Mack came to the University of Memphis under a crazy set of circumstances. One of the country’s top 50 players in the 2006 class, Mack was originally slated to head to the University of Florida under Billy Donovan. Some say they parted ways because the Gators decided to go another direction and some say it was grades. Either way, former head coach John Calipari was more than happy to swoop him up as part of his incoming recruiting class. The then 6′5″ 170-pound guard was set to join Willie Kemp, Pierre Henderson-Niles, Trevon Willis, Hashim Bailey and transfer Shawn Taggart.
